When you come to think of it that is the secret of most of the great holes all over the world. They all have some kind of a twist. C.B. MACDONALD
Ben Cohen profiles Danny Meyer, purveyor of 1200 calorie shakes in the greater New York area who is offering Shake Shackleford's Friday and again Saturday if Shackleford wins the Belmont Stakes.
Several have emailed or even brought the June Golf Digest to my face to point to the above words and ask if Golf Digest editor Jerry Tarde was calling me out in his Golf Snob Index column.
I can confirm that Jerry admitted that he was targeting just one blogger, yours truly.
And he's correct that there is no such thing as a bad course when every links provides enjoyment, employment, a place for wildlife and a much better alternative to a parking lot.
However, there is a difference in my criticism, and before we head to Congressional and you feel the need to complain about my highlighting of the mediocre renovation work there, this is a good time to clarify.
When I'm critical of certain architects who like to bend Jerry's ear about criticism directed their way, it's certainly not personal but driven by the constant labels of "greatness" bequeathed to them. With lavish budgets and the "genius" word thrown about, I naturally take a closer look at their work and when I see tell-tale signs of mediocrity--rushed construction, strategy-free holes, more attention paid to cart path placement than bunker locations, excessive use of catch basins to substitute for creative drainage, etc.--I'm going to point it out. Is that elitist? I don't believe so when the topic is the work of "genius" and the label of "greatness" is thrown about.
Jerry said it best himself in the column:
"A bit of elitism is not necessarily a bad thing. After all, Pebble Beach is better than Dyker Beach. Elitism is about high standards, but the application gets us in trouble."
Here's a screen capture of the column if you are interested in computing your Golf Snob Index.
Now before you watch this YouTube video and laugh because no one was hurt and because it's funny, I have a confession to make.
It was the 1992 Champions Tour event at Rancho Park, then known as the Senior Tour and the tournament title was the Security Pacific Classic. I was looping for DeWitt Weaver, a super guy and long hitter. Before we teed off in the first round, about five drops of rain fell and DeWitt sent me to the car to get an elaborately designed, heavy plastic tarp that covered the entire cart, complete with loose flaps covering the entry point to the seating area. Needless to say, as it was my first caddying gig in a professional event, trying to put this silly thing on one of Rancho's dated carts just 15 minutes before the tee time was not fun.
Anyway, DeWitt finally got the heavy white plastic cover on and while the rain never materialized, I had to contend with this plastic thing throughout the front nine while he walked the fairways. I could not strap the clubs on the back, so I was constantly getting in and out of the cart, trying not to get the clubs tangled in the cover flap. After we finished play on the seventh hole, I was driving the cart up the hill toward the eighth tee behind defending champion John Brodie. As he parked and got out to hit his tee ball, my foot got tangled in the door cover portion of the plastic cover and I could not hit the brake. I nearly ran over the football legend.
Thankfully, he just thought I was a bad cart driver and no one really seemed to notice, but I'd managed to block out memories of the day I almost killed John Brodie. Until today, watching this European Ladies Tour posted video...
Before you got all, "but he spells it 'le'" do keep in mind that my name has been spelled Shackleford more often than the correct way. It even appeared that way in a magazine I write for recently, which, along with a jockey named Jesus on Rapture day should have been your cue to bet on Shackleford to win the Preakness. And he did, as Jay Privman reports. Or Joe Drape if you want the NY Times perspective and photo gallery.
The Golf Channel writing team took a crack at the Kentucky Derby and sadly, overlooked the obvious favorite and horse for the ages, Shackleford. New Golf Channel man Jason Sobel writes:Stephen Goodwin reviews this very website…in depth! Just what you were hoping for right? A blogger covering himself.
I don't know why Goodwin refers to the site in the past tense throughout, perhaps he knows something I don't. I plan to be here a while and thank him for the robust analysis of the site, including this criticism.
And he’s at his best when he decides to commit fully, quoting at length from a press interview or an article, interrupting with deft remarks that expose the lack of logic, deflate the hype, mock the pretension. That’s the GS that this reader looks for — intellectually engaged, hackles up, a writer zeroing in on a meaty subject.
I’m not keeping track, but it seems to me that he’s done less of this lately, and I don’t want to think that it’s because he recently joined forces with Golf Digest.
Ask and you shall receive. Goodwin goes on to look at my "core concerns."
1. The designers of the Golden Age were geniuses whose wisdom, like that of the Founding Fathers, will never be reproduced.
Nor were they slave owners.
2. The best golf hole ever designed, by far, is No. 10 at Riviera.
If you can name a better "designed" hole that doesn't rely on an ocean or some other natural feature, I'm all ears!
3. Tiger Woods is to golf as Sarah Palin is to politics, a source of endless fascination; no word or deed, no gesture or expression, should go unreported.
He is pursuing history and he does have a pretty nice track record suggesting it's a pursuit worth watching! Certainly more fun than watching Ben Crane play golf.
4. The PGA Tour is run by suits with small minds, all of whom communicate — or rather, fail to communicate — in an obscure language called M. B. A. Speak.
Oh that's not true. They wear Oxfords around the office and they are not small minded, they just are not that interested in golf.
5. To set up a course for a major championship is at least as complcated as rocket science or brain surgery.
Actually, if you've been reading you'd know it's not that complicated, we've just had a lot of bunglers trying to offset faulty equipment regulation who've made it look that way!
6. The most prolific and sought-after contemporary designers — Tom Fazio, Jack Nicklaus, and Rees Jones — have yet to design a respectable golf course.
Works for me!
7. The failure of golf’s governing bodies to rein in manufactures and set limits on the flight of the golf ball is an ongoing disaster.
Pretty much.
8. The FedEx Cup is the most lame-brained, ginned-up competition in sports.
It has surpassed the BCS for those who know what the FedExCup is.
9. TV coverage of golf is dull enough to put Zombies to sleep.
No one said I was original.
10. Somebody needs to take the current business model of golf out behind the barn and kill it with an axe.
I'm such a lone wolf on that one!
Some of you know that in the midst of a very busy last year juggling writing and course restoration duties, I was also under the spell of Zenyatta, the great racing thoroughbred who made her home in Southern California. Like many, I wasn't really a follower of the sport until I experienced the energy and presence of this magnificent mare whose pre-race dances and thrilling come-from-behind style led to a record 19 consecutive victories.The site was hacked again today and the spam has been relentless on older posts, so for a few days I'm going to have the comment posting filter switched back on that requires you to enter those swell letters before sharing your brilliant thoughts with the golfing world. New password on this end should help too.
Sorry about this!
Golf Digest features their "risk takers" of golf and yes, in a moment of synergistic harmony that will have you muttering conspiracy theories, includes yours truly. If it's any consolation, when Ron Whitten called to interview me he had no idea about a possible partnership between my site and GolfDigest.com.
Thanks to reader Tim for sending the link.
I've heard from you a few of you about making posts and filling out the security letters and still having posts not appear. My apologies. I've put in the word with the good folks at Squarespace. If the steps were different than mentioned here, please post (if you can!) what went wrong. I'm also looking into upgrading to the next level once and for all to introduce a registration option so that you don't have to fill out security forms and other nonsense.
I took a look at the hundreds of comments on the Padraig video at YouTube, then read the discussion here. What a contrast!
You guys and gals are the best.
So let's just get the inevitable speculation and conjecture out of the way: Tiger's failure to renew with Golf Digest deal was not caused by the need to free up funds to pay me.
But yes, the day has finally arrived when this site has taken on a partner. I'm also joining the Golf World masthead as a contributing writer, though subscribers know I've been contributing to their pages for a few years now.
Naturally I'm thrilled and honored to be part of the Golf Digest family. To your inevitable second question...no, I don't plan to change.
Oh, you eagle eyes may spot subtle changes in tone or raise an eyebrow when I link to a GolfDigest.com item, but my intention and emphatic instruction from Golf Digest is to continue doing what I do in the style you are accustomed to.
A feed of my most recent posts will now appear on the revamped GolfDigest.com News And Tours page, as will occasional contributions to their website. Otherwise this site remains at this URL with the same attitude and mission that began after The Future of Golf was published: to cover state of the game issues with insight and, on occasion or when appropriate, a touch of wit (something the late, great Stu Schneider encouraged during this site's early days).
And if you haven't hit refresh yet, then you don't know that the site has been freshened because, well, it was time.
The old site look (click to enlarge)A few changes and incorporation of suggestions:
-A new masthead debuts incorporating the same postcard art, but modernized, refined and tuned up by Photoshop artist Tom Naccarato. GolfDigest.com's logo now adorns the sage scrub hill of Rustic Canyon and we've added an "Established 2003" to recognize the nearly eight years the site has been around. (Internet age-wise makes the site 56 years old.)
- A white and blue color scheme in coordination with GolfDigest.com and because I think it looks clean. Simplicity and ease of reading remains a priority.
-An RSS feed of recent GolfDigest.com postings now tops the lone sidebar on the right. You'll find everything else in the sidebar to be pretty similar, with links to other sites and my past articles, except...
- Improved (I hope) site speed on mobile devices and when you are visiting via a slow connection speed. 15 posts appear on the homepage now instead of 20. Condensed are the long lists of Amazon links. This is still a work in progress depending on early speed reviews. However, I plan to create a new "recommended reading page" and intend to continue interviewing authors and promoting books no matter how hard the publishing industry tries to remain in the 20th Century.
- The daily quote atop the site is now going to be Tweeted (@GeoffShacQuotes), which will allow those of you who rely on Twitter as a news source to subscribe to the quote feed. As many requested, you will now have the ability to scroll through an online archive on the @GeoffShacQuotes Twitter page to find posted quotes. I've been Tweeting the quotes since Christmas day, 2010. Both feeds can be viewed and accessed via the Twitter widgets in the righthand sidebar.
- @GeoffShac will continue to be my primary Twitter account and act as a source for my site feed, but I will also still chime in with real Tweets or re-Tweets. For those who don't like the cold nature of a straight feed to Twitter, I hear you, but it saves me a lot of time having posts go straight to tweets and for readers accessing the site via Twitter, Flipboard or other new ways. For those of you who don't use Twitter, ignore the preceding comments.
- Archives remain intact. GeoffShackelford.com remains the URL which not only allows you to keep the same bookmark, but keeps six years of archives in place. In recent months many of you have asked about finding an old post. You have several options. Besides the excellent Search option at the top of the page, the Topics and Archives options make it pretty easy to find old content. Those links are now found immediately below the masthead.
- Commenting remains open and unregistered. I'm hoping when Squarespace updates their excellent hosting technology that they'll allow for the option to have registered commenters as well as anonymous posting so that registered users can communicate with each other more fluidly, search past postings and do many of the other things you requested. Sorry, I know this wasn't the answer many were looking for.
I hope you continue to find many reasons to visit the site in 2011 and please don't hesitate to comment on the new look, but go easy on the new partner!
**John Marvel welcomes me to GolfDigest.com.
**The official press release from Golf Digest with needling from Jerry Tarde.
“Geoff’s influence in the golf community is profound,” said Jerry Tarde, Chairman and Editorial Director of Golf Digest Publications. “I sometimes even agree with him, but his perspective always resonates at the highest levels of the game. Our partnership continues a commitment toward delivering the most complete, accurate and insightful news to readers via whatever platform they want.”
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning
Copyright © 2022, Geoff Shackelford. All rights reserved.
